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Japan vs North Korea

On research quality in 2022-now, Japan ranks #16 in the world and North Korea #183, of 189 countries. Japan stands higher in 26 of the 26 fields both publish in, North Korea in 0.

Research profiles alike: 0.56similar shapes of research, whatever their size. How it is measured

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Japan

World rank, 2022-now
#16
#17 all time
Works, 2022-now
558k
fractional
Top-10% rate
6.0%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
42%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: Condensed Matter Physics, Structural Biology, Gastroenterology.

North Korea

World rank, 2022-now
#183
#191 all time
Works, 2022-now
841
fractional
Top-10% rate
4.4%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
54%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes, Condensed Matter Physics, Geometry and Topology.

Who leads, measure by measure?

Japan leads on 5 of 9 measures: research quality, output, top-10% rate, citations per work and institutions in the world top 100. North Korea leads on 4 of 9 measures: citation excellence for its fields, open access, international co-authorship and growth.

Japan 54 North Korea
  1. #16Research qualityworld rank of 189 countries, 2022-now#183
  2. 0.64×Citation excellence for its fieldsits top-10% rate against what its topics predict; 1.00× is as expected0.81×
  3. 558kOutputfractional works, 2022-now841
  4. 6.0%Top-10% rateshare of its works among the world's most cited4.4%
  5. 17.2Citations per workall time, per fractional work8.1
  6. 1World top 100institutions it holds among the world's best 1000
  7. 42%Open accessof its works free to read, all time54%
  8. 12%Internationalof its works written with co-authors abroad, all time48%
  9. -5%Growthworks in 2022-25 against 2018-21; half a bar is no change+168%

A rank is drawn as its standing: the longer the bar, the nearer the top. Anything else is drawn against the larger of the two, and two values a hair apart are called level. Quality, citation excellence and the top-10% rate are explained in the methodology.

Who leads in each field?

Japan stands higher in 26 of 26 fields, North Korea in 0. Japan leads most in Engineering (#16 against #120). Each bar is that side's standing among all countries ranked in the field: the full bar is first place.

Japan 260 North Korea
  1. #16Agricultural and Biological Sciences-
  2. #22Arts and Humanities-
  3. #13Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology-
  4. #26Business, Management and Accounting-
  5. #13Chemical Engineering-
  6. #14Chemistry-
  7. #16Computer Science-
  8. #25Decision Sciences-
  9. #12Dentistry-
  10. #15Earth and Planetary Sciences-
  11. #17Economics, Econometrics and Finance-
  12. #21Energy-
  13. #16Engineering#120
  14. #20Environmental Science-
  15. #22Health Professions-
  16. #15Immunology and Microbiology-
  17. #12Materials Science-
  18. #14Mathematics-
  19. #18Medicine-
  20. #16Neuroscience-
  21. #18Nursing-
  22. #13Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics-
  23. #10Physics and Astronomy-
  24. #23Psychology-
  25. #26Social Sciences-
  26. #17Veterinary-

Standing is the percentile of world rank within each field, 2022-now; the printed number is the rank itself. A dash means the field is too small there to rank. How sides are compared.

The numbers behind each field

Click a heading to sort. The side that does better in a pair of columns is shaded: a lower rank, a higher rate, more works.

Field Japan rankNorth Korea rank Japan top 10%North Korea top 10% Japan worksNorth Korea works
Agricultural and Biological Sciences #16 - 6.4% - 16k -
Arts and Humanities #22 - 9.5% - 5.2k -
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology #13 - 5.5% - 41k -
Business, Management and Accounting #26 - 6.2% - 5.2k -
Chemical Engineering #13 - 4.8% - 2.5k -
Chemistry #14 - 4.8% - 12k -
Computer Science #16 - 5.1% - 37k -
Decision Sciences #25 - 5.7% - 2.9k -
Dentistry #12 - 7.7% - 2.9k -
Earth and Planetary Sciences #15 - 6.7% - 8.7k -
Economics, Econometrics and Finance #17 - 7.4% - 6.1k -
Energy #21 - 6.9% - 3.6k -
Engineering #16 #120 4.6% 3.1% 94k 262
Environmental Science #20 - 6.0% - 21k -
Health Professions #22 - 6.9% - 8.9k -
Immunology and Microbiology #15 - 6.3% - 7k -
Materials Science #12 - 4.9% - 27k -
Mathematics #14 - 6.3% - 6.9k -
Medicine #18 - 6.6% - 167k -
Neuroscience #16 - 5.2% - 14k -
Nursing #18 - 5.6% - 2.8k -
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics #13 - 6.5% - 2.6k -
Physics and Astronomy #10 - 7.4% - 22k -
Psychology #23 - 6.2% - 14k -
Social Sciences #26 - 7.1% - 27k -
Veterinary #17 - 5.0% - 773 -

What is each known for?

The keywords that describe each side's research, by fractional works in 2022-now and weighted toward what it does more of than the world.

Japan

▲ more of its work than of the world's◆ about the world's share▼ less than the world's
All 40 words, with their numbers
  1. Epidemiology32k▲ 1.28×140 topics
  2. Inflammation21k▲ 1.54×83 topics
  3. Deep Learning18k▼ 0.85×85 topics
  4. Machine Learning14k▼ 0.67×97 topics
  5. Treatment12k▲ 1.59×52 topics
  6. Oxidative Stress12k◆ 1.15×63 topics
  7. Climate Change12k▼ 0.69×132 topics
  8. Chemotherapy11k▲ 2.6×25 topics
  9. Quality of Life11k▲ 1.17×61 topics
  10. Cancer11k▲ 1.24×59 topics
  11. Diagnosis10k▲ 1.78×41 topics
  12. Nanoparticles9,087◆ 1.14×44 topics
  13. Biomedical Applications8,930▲ 1.20×36 topics
  14. Cardiovascular Disease8,839▲ 1.23×39 topics
  15. Immunotherapy8,823▲ 1.94×19 topics
  16. Neural Networks8,643◆ 0.89×42 topics
  17. Risk Factors8,023▲ 1.16×37 topics
  18. Clinical Practice Guidelines7,936▲ 2.3×14 topics
  19. Management7,655▲ 1.52×40 topics
  20. Mechanical Properties6,915◆ 1.12×39 topics
  21. Prognostic Factors6,756▲ 2.5×14 topics
  22. Surgical Management6,288▲ 2.4×20 topics
  23. Neurological Disorders5,916▲ 1.64×20 topics
  24. Tumor Microenvironment5,642▲ 1.98×8 topics
  25. Genetic Mutations5,620▲ 2.0×23 topics
  26. Clinical Trials5,573▲ 1.32×19 topics
  27. Guidelines5,493▲ 1.84×13 topics
  28. Aging5,443▲ 1.58×19 topics
  29. Complications5,433▲ 1.73×17 topics
  30. Heart Failure5,273▲ 1.87×14 topics
  31. Radiotherapy5,136▲ 2.1×13 topics
  32. Neoadjuvant Therapy4,824▲ 3.2×5 topics
  33. Prognosis4,800▲ 2.3×9 topics
  34. Surgery4,267▲ 1.94×12 topics
  35. Survival Analysis4,083▲ 2.4×7 topics
  36. Echocardiography4,000▲ 2.3×8 topics
  37. Modernization3,683▲ 3.2×5 topics
  38. Molecular Characterization3,645▲ 3.3×6 topics
  39. Endoscopic Resection3,093▲ 4.9×2 topics
  40. Adjuvant Therapy3,069▲ 3.9×2 topics

North Korea

▲ more of its work than of the world's◆ about the world's share▼ less than the world's
All 40 words, with their numbers
  1. Machine Learning45▲ 1.25×70 topics
  2. Deep Learning42◆ 1.15×65 topics
  3. Climate Change30◆ 1.02×66 topics
  4. Neural Networks30▲ 1.77×33 topics
  5. Mechanical Properties24▲ 2.3×28 topics
  6. Biomedical Applications24▲ 1.86×30 topics
  7. Nanoparticles23▲ 1.72×37 topics
  8. Environmental Impact20◆ 1.10×38 topics
  9. Nanomaterials20▲ 1.78×17 topics
  10. Nanocomposites20▲ 2.3×21 topics
  11. Renewable Energy19▲ 1.24×31 topics
  12. Oxidative Stress18◆ 1.05×47 topics
  13. Energy Efficiency18▲ 1.76×22 topics
  14. Remote Sensing17▲ 1.32×31 topics
  15. Graphene16▲ 2.3×11 topics
  16. Vibration Analysis15▲ 5.3×9 topics
  17. Catalysis15▲ 2.1×22 topics
  18. Nonlinear Systems14▲ 6.1×8 topics
  19. Microstructure13▲ 2.3×19 topics
  20. Biosensors12▲ 2.4×11 topics
  21. Metal Recovery12▲ 5.5×3 topics
  22. Numerical Simulation11▲ 3.6×12 topics
  23. Artificial Neural Networks11▲ 2.2×9 topics
  24. Buckling Behavior11▲ 14×2 topics
  25. Nonlinear Dynamics10▲ 4.4×6 topics
  26. Finite Element Method10▲ 9.8×6 topics
  27. Stability Analysis10▲ 5.7×6 topics
  28. Molecular Dynamics9▲ 4.8×7 topics
  29. Fluid-Structure Interaction9▲ 5.6×6 topics
  30. Materials9▲ 3.5×6 topics
  31. Rare Earth Elements8▲ 5.1×4 topics
  32. Superconductivity8▲ 4.4×9 topics
  33. Entanglement8▲ 4.9×4 topics
  34. Metamaterials8▲ 4.9×5 topics
  35. Microstructural Evolution8▲ 4.8×4 topics
  36. Optical Modulators7▲ 4.8×3 topics
  37. Composite Plates7▲ 21×1 topic
  38. Functionally Graded Materials7▲ 21×1 topic
  39. Battery Recycling6▲ 7.2×1 topic
  40. Hydrometallurgical Processes6▲ 7.2×1 topic

Size is fractional works in the topics tagged with each word; colour is the word's share of the side's work against its share of the world's. Each word links to the topic it comes from most.

How has their output grown?

Japan has out-published North Korea every year since 1981.

still counting50k100k150kJapan144k in 2025North Korea408 in 20251990200020102020

Fractional works per year.

Their share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share, because all of science grows. Each line is a side as a percentage of every work published that year.

still counting5.0%10%Japan2.5% in 2025North Korea0.0069% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

The share of each side's works, year by year, that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. The average of all institutions is 10.0% (why not 10%).

still counting5%10%15%Japan6.4% in 2025North Korea3.6% in 2025200020102020

A year with under 1% of the side's peak output is left out: a rate over a handful of papers says nothing. The latest years are still being cited.

Who holds more of the world's best institutions?

A country's average quality and the number of institutions it holds at the very top can disagree, and both are worth knowing. The counts are nested: an institution in the top 50 is also in the top 100.

Japan 41 level0 North Korea
  1. 0In the world top 500
  2. 1In the top 1000
  3. 8In the top 5000
  4. 16In the top 1,0000
  5. #13Elite capacityrank among 204 countries#51

Institutions ranked on research quality, 2022-now. Elite capacity counts a country's institutions by their worldwide rank, weighted so a place at #1 counts for more than one at #480.

Which publishes more research, Japan or North Korea?

Japan publishes 663.2× as much research as North Korea in 2022-now (558k against 841 fractional works).

Whose research has more impact, Japan or North Korea?

6.0% of Japan's research reaches the world's top 10% most cited, against 4.4% for North Korea.

Is Japan or North Korea growing faster?

Output in 2022-25 was +168% against 2018-21 for North Korea, and -5% for Japan.

Which has more open access research, Japan or North Korea?

54% of North Korea's research is free to read, against 42% of Japan's.

Which has more world-class institutions, Japan or North Korea?

Japan holds 1 of the world's top 100 research institutions and North Korea 0; in the top 1,000 it is 16 against 0.

Which institutions lead in each country?

The highest-ranked institutions on each side on research quality, 2022-now. The percentage is each institution's own top-10% rate: the share of its works that are among the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. Every figure stands alone, so they do not add up to 100%.

Japan

  1. 1The University of Tokyo8.1% top 10% · 26k works
  2. 2Kyoto University7.5% top 10% · 16k works
  3. 3RIKEN11.4% top 10% · 4.7k works
  4. 4The University of Osaka7.0% top 10% · 13k works
  5. 5Nagoya University6.8% top 10% · 10k works
  6. 6Tohoku University7.6% top 10% · 14k works

North Korea

  1. 1Kim Il-sung University2.5% top 10% · 173 works
  2. 2Kim Chaek University of Technology1.4% top 10% · 232 works
  3. 3Institute of Natural Science9.3% top 10% · 287 works
  4. 4Pyongyang University of Science and Technology1.7% top 10% · 104 works

The number is the rank inside the country. The track on each row is the top-10% rate; the tick is the average of all institutions, 10.0% (how it is set): teal above it, red below. The ranking is the quality score, which compares the rate with what each institution's own topics predict and adds a small reward for size, so the rates do not fall in order.

Who are the top researchers on each side?

The most cited researchers on each side, among those ranked.

Japan

  1. 1 Md. Rabiul Awual #6 worldwide 41k citations · 208 works
  2. 2 Ayyoob Sharifi #295 worldwide 23k citations · 468 works
  3. 3 A. S. Bell #544 worldwide 76k citations · 479 works
  4. 4 Noboru Mizushima #728 worldwide 143k citations · 420 works
  5. 5 Haoshen S. Zhou #1,003 worldwide 71k citations · 809 works

North Korea

  1. 1 Un-Gi Jong #589,064 worldwide 2k citations · 71 works
  2. 2 Yun-Hyok Kye #951,780 worldwide 1.1k citations · 38 works
  3. 3 Chol‐Jun Yu #1,569,436 worldwide 2.7k citations · 144 works
  4. 4 Sunghyok Kim #1,881,333 worldwide 656 citations · 15 works
  5. 5 O Hyong-Chol #2,399,720 worldwide 182 citations · 44 works

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